Endoscopic treatment of gastrointestinal disorders often requires the need to coagulate tissue for the purpose of hemostasis and/or marking of the tissue. Areas of diseased tissue within the gastrointestinal tract may also be treated using an ablation device. Some ablation devices may be delivered endoscopically.
Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is one method that can be used to deliver energy for treating or marking the tissue. A bipolar probe is a commonly used RFA device, for example, the Quicksliver Bipolar Probe (Cook Medical, Inc., Bloomington, Ind.) Typical RFA probes are 7 to 10 Fr with electrodes mounted on a ceramic tip on the distal end of the device. One drawback of these probes is that the size of the ablation zone is dependent on the size of the catheter and cannot be altered by the user. In addition, the user must use caution when applying energy when using this type of bipolar probe. Since all the force is distributed across a small (7 or 10 Fr) surface area, an area of high pressure is created increasing the risk of perforation of the tissue at the treatment site.
What is needed in the art is an ablation treatment device that is simple to use, reduces the risk of tissue perforation and is expandable and collapsible to treat larger tissue areas.